She laughed and pretended to push him over.
“Thanks for the pep talk, guys.”
Mitchell started jogging down the street. “Enough mush! We need to get fitted.”
Shayla grabbed my hand and tugged me toward our destination.
~
The dress designer, Nancy, had sent one of her own seamstresses up to do the final fitting and adjustments of the gown I chose. The woman was tall, thin, and familiar-looking. It turned out she was the sister of Gwendolyn, one of the assistants I’d met in LA. Her name was Ginnifer with a G.
“We’re ahead of schedule,” Ginnifer said. “Even if you’ve changed three sizes, we’ll be able to make the alterations, but by the look of you, you’re as perfect as the day you were first measured up.” She laughed. “Less than two weeks ago.”
Shayla and Mitchell went off with the other assistants, and I followed Ginnifer to the back room, so nobody else would see the dress ahead of time.
Everything appeared to be falling into place.
Standing next to me at the altar on Saturday would be Shayla, of course, and Mitchell. We’d already chosen a pale gray as our bridal party color, and Mitchell would look dashing in his gray suit with a pink tie. Shayla’s gray dress had a pink highlight across the bust. If I didn’t love my custom gown so much, I would have wanted to wear Shayla’s dress.
According to Vern, Dalton had expanded his side to include his cousin, Connor. His other attendant was his friend, Alexis. I hadn’t been a big fan of Alexis since she sold photos of me in my underwear to the tabloids, but she was like a sister to Dalton, so I would just try to get over bad first impressions. I had sprayed her with a garden hose on my front lawn, so we’d both done regrettable things.
“I love your curves,” Ginnifer said as I wriggled into the slip I’d be wearing under the dress.
I laughed. “Oh, please. You’re tall and slim, and you could probably model these gowns.”
She smiled and unzipped the bag for my dress. “I didn’t mean I envied you or don’t accept myself. Just that I admire every bride, in her beautiful pre-wedding glow. Bridal gowns are infused with magic, don’t you know? They allow us to see what’s always been there.”
“Oh.” I stared at my gown, flat from the bag.
“Do you see something?” she asked. “What do you think?”
“It looks flat,” I said. “Like it’s just waiting for some curves to fill it out.”
She beamed. “Exactly. Arms up. We’ll do the formal side first, the party side second.”
I raised my arms in the air and waited.
She took her time, moving slowly and deliberately, and then she gently swooshed the crinkling fabric over my head and smoothed it out.
With my eyes clenched shut, I waited as she fastened all the buttons at the back.
“May I?” She wiggled the clip holding my hair up in a messy bun.
“Sure.” I waited as she let down my hair and fixed it loosely around my bare shoulders.
“You can open your eyes now,” she said.
I hesitated.
If I opened my eyes and saw myself in the gown, I knew I would feel something. I didn’t know what that something would be, but it scared me. I was a cup about to overflow.
She whispered gentle encouragement, saying, “Open your eyes and see what your future husband will see.”
I opened my eyes.
The woman in front of me looked beautiful and confident. Her blue eyes sparkled. She still had plenty of fight, but she also looked ready to surrender.
No more holding back.
No more running away.
Just surrender.
~
After the fittings, Vern met with us to go over some things with the caterers. Everyone kept asking me how I felt about every little thing.
Did I want coconut flakes on the fruit skewers?
Yes, I thought I did, but when I agreed to the coconut flakes, I was informed that the chicken dish had coconut milk, so if a guest had allergies, that was two things they couldn’t eat, and was I okay with that?
When I said to leave the coconut flakes off the fruit skewers, I got a ten-minute demonstration of banana chunks turning various colors based on adjoining fruits.
I thought the whole point of hiring caterers was to have them take care of things for you. Was this their way of making me feel I was getting Dalton’s money worth?
I would have to report all this to him when he arrived in town the next day.
As I moved down the list of catering choices and other tasks, I made another list in my head, of things I needed to say to Dalton before the wedding.
After much soul-searching, and fighting back tears when I saw myself in my beautiful gown, I’d figured out a few things.
I’d always admired how Dalton was able to commit completely to a role. Even though he had won my heart at first by saying lines someone else had written, I could feel how much he meant the words.